Did you know the Novus Ordo uses a phrase that Scripture associates with idolatry?

I deeply feel for you and have been reading your posts about this matter over many months with much compassion. You have all been in our Rosaries.

In a way, despite all the suffering you are going through, you have perhaps one consolation: The TLM is literally heaven on earth, what a beautiful way to depart after a TLM!

 

Thank you Michael and family for your prayers. They are truly sustaining!
As i may have mentioned we all received last rites that night by the same TLM priest who said the Mass. And because the trauma doctor ( a staunch Catholic) heard a voice within her to try and save Maryellen one more time, the priest had enough time to administer to her the Apostolic Pardon. So she is in Heaven.

And my wife and i have always seen this accident as the incredibly love God has for us. I was lukewarm. I had false idols. Yes, God saved me physically from death but more importantly showed me where i was in relation to him and now i have an opportunity to not accept the cross but love it. I pray this us what stays within me. God is so good. Peace

 

The traditional last rites are very powerful, as are the traditional exorcisms. The hand of divine providence was at play here, so your loved one has been cared for well on the final early journey. God is good!

 

How marvelous is Our Lord!

 

I believe that the Novus Ordo may be further modified to initiate the Abomination of Desolation. The AOD was spoken of and forewarned by Alphonsus Liguori who wrote extensively about it in the 19th century. The two references above would I think refer to that, but not the Holy Mass (NO) in effect today.

 

I'm involved in a men's Bible Study at St Ann, Mother of Mary in Mexico, NY. And growing up I was aware of the above highlighted fact pertaining to Pope Leo XIII, I believe. But I also still have my Mom's Saint Joseph's Missal published in 1957 which of course mirrored the Latin Mass of its day. So in discussing the 1st Chapter of John, I read directly from the missal the Prologue to John's Gospel which was proclaimed at the end of Sunday Holy Mass as the "Last Gospel" back in my early years. It was read in Latin, but the translation was included in the Sunday Missal. The "Last Gospel" included the verses of John 1:1-14, and the whole congregation would genuflect when the words, "And the Word was made flesh" were proclaimed.

As a young child I was always impressed with the unison of that holy genuflection. Our little Church was filled back then which made the group genuflection even more impressive.

 

You truly are an inspiration Brian. thanks for posting this.

 

How marvelous the prayers of the Church and those used in the Traditional form are especially efficacious!

 

Amen!

 

I mostly attend a NO mass due to the distance of the one church remotely close to me that has a TLM. I still kneel at those words at the NO mass.

 

As someone who has ‘connections’ in SSPX and FSSP parishes, I can say that some faithful regret that the priests in this area too rarely follow Jesus' mission. NO priests will probably have lost sight of this too - "heal the sick..."
(Of course, it is primarily about the salvation of souls, but still...)

Matthew 10:8
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.

 

There are healing Masses twice a month at my parish. Mass, Adoration, individual anointing and prayers, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

 

How wonderful!

 

It is wonderful. The pastor and a priest friend went to Guadalupe about 20 years ago and has been led ever since to offer healing Masses. He always says that it is Jesus who is doing the healing.

 

I see altar rails are coming back, thank God.

https://www.ncregister.com/features/the-return-of-altar-rails

Communion Rails Return as Churches Embrace Beauty and Reverence
A growing number of Catholic parishes in the U.S. are restoring altar rails, renewing reverence and transforming the faithful’s experience of the Holy Eucharist.


The National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, has restored its Communion rails. (photo: Courtesy of National Shrine of The Divine Mercy)
Joseph Pronechen Features April 6, 2025
Every Sunday at St. Anne Church in Richmond Hill, Georgia, the Hilleary family — mother Michelle, father Brian and five children — receives Communion at the altar rail.

“It creates a more sacred space. And it draws your attention to the sacred,” Michelle Hilleary told the Register.

“It sets apart the sanctuary,” observed her 15-year-old daughter, Malia.

That wasn’t always the case.

When St. Anne’s was built in 2016, there was no Communion rail. Today, a redwood altar rail — installed in July 2024 — now surrounds the sanctuary.

St. Anne’s is among churches new and old returning these altar rails for the reverent reception of Communion.


Father Dawid Kwiatkowski says the development is welcomed by his flock.

“More people were coming,” recalled Father Kwiatkowski of 2022, when he became the new pastor and met “younger families who were looking for more reverent reception of the Holy Eucharist.”

Father Kwiatkowski recounted that the former pastor had placed one kneeler in front of the sanctuary. Father Kwiatkowski added a second kneeler to enable a more reverent reception. Then one family offered $50,000 toward an altar railing if he could raise the remainder of the money needed to complete the project. “Within a week, I found the rest of the sponsors,” he said, explaining that parishioners supported the addition of the altar railing costing a total of $90,000.

“I needed to install an altar railing that would serve the needs of everyone,” the pastor explained. That included those who wanted to kneel and receive on the tongue, kneel and receive on the hand, or stand and receive either way.


Liturgical aesthetics played a part. “We wanted to make sure that the altar railing would basically look like it had always been here,” Father Kwiatkowski said of the new railing.

For weeks before each Sunday Mass, he explained to parishioners how to use the altar rail, depending on people’s choice of how to receive Communion, and he posted these explanations on the parish website.

So far, he has found that “about 90% of the people will kneel to receive Communion. Even if they are receiving on the hand, they will still kneel and use the altar railing.” Naturally, those unable to kneel will stand.

Parishioners like the Hillearys are indeed appreciative.


“When you’re receiving in a kneeling position, it gives you time to contemplate Who it is that you are receiving,” Michelle Hilleary said. “It definitely creates an atmosphere of reverence, and it still allows everyone to receive in the way that they are most comfortable.”

Husband Brian also appreciates the Communion rails.

“St. Anne was an absolutely beautiful church before, and over the last several years it has only become a more reverent and beautiful place to worship,” Brian said. “I know that bringing an altar rail into a church where there was none before can cause concern for some Catholics, but I really do think it helps us remember that the altar, where Jesus is truly present in our church, must be a welcoming place to gather around and receive him, but always a place set apart.”

The Hilleary children recognize the value, too.

“It allows the servers to assist at Mass in a more reverent and orderly way, which reduces distractions that would take away from the beauty of the Eucharist,” said Seamus, 17, an altar server. His brother Christian, 12, also an altar boy, added, “It has increased reverence because I feel like more people kneel down now than stand up when they’re receiving.”

Even 6-year-old Kolbe chimed in: “I like it how it is.”





St. Anne Church in Richmond Hill, Georgia(Photo: Courtesy of St. Anne Church)
In Springfield, Virginia, St. Raymond of Penafort Catholic Church was completed in 2006 — without altar rails. In 2010, its new pastor, Father John De Celles, began emphasizing reverence toward the Eucharist. Each year, he began introducing changes “to encourage and teach reverence,” he told the Register, including instituting a Friday evening extraordinary-form Mass, to which he consistently invited “the regular Sunday crowd to attend.”

Since there was no altar rail, a carpenter made a moveable rail across the front of the sanctuary for that Friday Mass.

“When the time was right, about eight years ago, I kept that temporary rail up for some of the ordinary-form Masses,” Father De Celles said. “It became so popular I soon easily extended that to all the parish Masses. Then, in 2020, we were able to install permanent marble rails, which was enthusiastically welcomed by the parishioners.” The rails were made in Italy from the same quarries used to source the stone for the church’s altar.

Father De Celles has found that “about 80%-90% of the people kneel.” Most who don’t kneel “tend to do so because they physically have a hard time kneeling and standing back up, or because they are visiting the parish.”


Parishioners appreciate the altar rails at St. Raymond of Penafort Catholic Church in Springfield, Virginia.(Photo: Courtesy of St. Raymond of Penafort Catholic Church)

 

When I was younger and more able I knelt even when there was no altar rail. Our priest put in two kneelers for those like me that wanted to kneel. Unfortunately someone in the parish complained to the Bishop and my priest was forced to remove them. Now that I don’t have the support of getting up and down in my older age I’m left standing. I wish kneelers or at best altar rails would come back to my parish

 

I'm in your category.

 

Wow, this is amazing. I wish I also could not only accept my crosses but love them. May our Good Lord, the Lord God, bless you and your family abundantly.